Automatic elevator gate



May 13, 1924, 1,4944061 L. CHRISTIANSEN AUTOMATIC ELEVATOR GATE FiledJuhe 30, 1919 lzzvezzifp Patented May 13, 1924.

UNSILT ED ST A T'ES P TEN T O F F LUDWIG CHRISTIANSEN, OF LYNN,MASSACHUSETTS.

AUTOMATIC ELEVATOR GATE.

Application filed June 30,

T allwhom may concern:

Be it known that. I, LUDwie CHRISTIAN- SEN, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Lynn, in the county of Essex and State. ofMassachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inAutomatic Elevator Gates; and I do hereby declare the following to be af ull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same This invention relates to automatic gates such as are used inconnection with freight elevators to prevent accidental entrance intothe elevator well when the elevator car is not in position.

The object of theinvention is to provide novel and improved means,actuated by the movement of the elevator car in approach.- ing orleaving a floor, for operating the gate'to respectively openor close thedoorwayleading to the elevator well at that floor.

To this end the invention consists in the features of construction,arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described and referredto in the claims.

The invention will be readily understood from an inspection of theaccompanying drawings and the following detaileddescription of theconstruction illustratedtherein.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is; a view, in sideelevation, of an elevatorgate embodying the invention in its preferred form and showing theelevator car in position and the gate raised to give access to the car;Fig. 2 is a detail view, in elevation, of a portion of the gate,looking'from the outsideof the elevator well; and Fig; 3' is a sectionalview taken onthe line of Referring to thedrawings; the gate comprises anapron or curtain 4, consisting of a-plurality of' slats 5, arranged sideby side and so connected together as to permit the apron to bewound'upon a shaft, roller or drum 6, extending transversely across thetop of the doorway of the elevator well. The roller 6', to which theupper endof the apron is-secured, may be of any suitable constructionand is providedwith trunnions 7, that are journaled in brackets 8, onuprights 9, at either'side of thedoorway, and

' it is adapted to be rotated in'opposite directionsto wind up or unwindthe apron, there 1919. Serial No.- 307,812.

by raising or lowering it; The apron is guided to move vertically in thedoorway,

as it israised or lowered, by" means of grooves 10 in theinner sidesof-the uprights into which the ends of the slats 5 extend 6 when theyare unwound from the roller.

The means for operating the gate comprises two endless chains, one ofwhich serves to rotate the roller and is moved by the other to which itis connected and 653 which is, in turn, moved by the elevator car. Thetwo chains are arranged adjacent each other on the outer side of oneof'the uprights 9 in the relative positions'ill'ustrated in the drawing.The chain which rotates the roller is indicated at 11 and passes over asprocket wheel 12 that is se-' cured to one of the trunnions ofthe'roller, and over a similar sprocket Wheel 13' that h is mounted toturn on astud-14 which is 755 adj ustably fixedin a bracket on theupright. The chain which is operated directlyby the-" elevator car isindicatedat 15. The upper portion of the chain 15 passes over and'isguided by two disks 16, which are separated 309 sufliciently' to engageopposite'sides'of the links of the chain, and are severally mounted toturn on the inner ends of two studs- 17, which project inwardly from theoppositely extending arms of a bracket 19011 the upright 9 The disks 16are spaced apart a sufficient distance to permit thethickened jointsof'thelinks in the chain-15 to project between them thus preventing thechain from slipping sidewise from the 995 disks and holding the disksapart; In order that an uninterruptedpassage may bepro videdbetween thedisks 16 the studs 17" are constructed so that" their inner'endsdonotproject-beyond the inner surfaces of the disks. The lower portion ofthe'chain'15 passes over a sprocket wheel 20 that" is mounted to turn ona stud 21, whichi's adjustably fixed in a bracket'on' the upright.

Inorder-that the movements of the chain 15 may be transmitted to thechain 11, the two chains are connected by means of a link or bar 22. Theupperend of'the bar22 is hooked around the joint of apairof' links" inthe chain 15' between the sides of" the W links, while the lower end ofthe bar is secured to one of the links of the chain 11 by means ofabolt23. The greater part ofthe" upper portion of the bar'22 extends-in thecentral vertical plane of the chain 15' and-is capable of swingingfreely between the disks 16 whenever thelinks tO VVh1Ch it is connectedpass over the top of the disks 16.

To permit the chain 15 to be actuated by the elevator car, a carriage 24is provided, which is secured to the chain by means of a hooked bolt 25and is mounted to slide vertically upon a T-bar 26 which is secured toone of the uprights 9. Two dogs 27 and 28 are pivoted between the sidesof the carriage 24 and are engaged by the opposite ends of a, leafspring-29, which is secured to the carriage, so that they are normallyheld in th positions shown in Fig. 1, with their opposed ends projectingin the path of a finger 80 on the elevator car, and with the opposite ortail ends 81 hearing against the bottom of the carriage 2a. 1

r lVhen theelevator car is in position at the doorway, the finger 30will be located between the opposed projecting ends of the dogs, and theupper pivoted end of the bar 22 will be located at the top of the disks16, directly above the studs 17, as represented in Fig. 1. A downwardmovement of the elevator car will cause the finger 80 to engage the dog27,- pushing the carriage 24 and the adjacent side of the chain 15downwardly and rotating the disks 16 in a counter-clockwise 'direction,viewing Fig. 1, thus moving the bar 22 downwardly on the left-hand sideof the disks 16, and'operating the chain 11 to lower the gate.

In order that the dog 27 may be disengaged from the finger 30 after thegate has been lowered, a trip block 32 is secured to the lower part ofthe T-bar 26, in the path of the dog 27, and in the proper position totrip, th dog when the gate has reached the required closed position. Thetripping of the dog is effected by the riding of the tail 31 over aninclined face on the trip block, which causes the dog to be swung on itspiv- 0t, against the tension of the spring 29, withdrawing theprojecting lower end of the dog from contact with the finger 30 andpermitting the elevator car to continue downward without impartingfurther movement to the carriage 2 1. The position of the carriage2i'and the dog 27 after the gate has been lowered" by a downwardmovement of the elevator car is shown clearly by dotted linesin Fig. 1.j

Anfupwardmovement of the elevator car willibring the finger 3Oagainstthe dog 28,

and the carriage and adjacent side of the chain 15 will be raised,rotating the disks 16, in a clockwise direction, thus moving the bar" 22downwardly'at the right hand side ofthe disk16 and operating the chain11, in the samemanner as before, to lower the gate. 1 WVhen the gate hasbeen lowered sufficiently the dog 28 is tripped by means of a trip block33, which is located-at the upper end of the T-bar 26. The trip block 33is the dog 27, the finger 30 will move the carriage downwardly from itsposition adjacent the trip block 38, to the position indicated in fulllines in Fig. 1, thereby raising the gate. It, in approaching the floor,the elevator is moving upwardly, the finger 30 will pass over the dog 27which is held out of the path of the finger by the, trip block 32, andengaging the projecting end of the dog 28, the finger will raise thecarriage from dotted line position to the position shown by full lines,when the, car will be positioned at the doorway and the gate will beraised.

It will be seen that when the elevator car leaves a floor which isequipped with the automatic gate, herein described, the arrangement ofthe bar 22 with relation to the disk 16 is such that the gate will belowered, whether the car is moving upwardly or downwardly. Converselywhen the elevator car is moving, either upwardly or down wardly, inapproaching a floor, the gate will be raised. I

The automatic gate hereinbefore described is particularly adapted foruse wherever there is not sufficient room between the top of a doorwayand thefloor above to permit the use of an automatic gate of the usualrigid sliding type which is raised bodily above the doorway to permitaccess to the elevator car.

While it is preferred to employ the specific construction andarrangement of parts shown and described, it will be understood thatthis construction and arrangementis not essential, and may be varied andmodified without departing from the invention.

I Having explained the nature and object of the invention, andspecifically described one form of device in which it may be embodiedwhat I claim is 1. A gate for the doorways. of elevator wells,comprising a roller, a flexible apronsecured to the roller forclosing-the doorway when the elevator car isnot in position to beentered, a sprocket wheel connected with said roller, an endless chainpassing over said sprocket wheel for rotating the roller to raise orlower the apron, an idle wheel over which said chain passes, a secondendless chain adapted to be operated by the movements of the elevatorcar, means mountwheelfor supporting and guiding the second chain, and alink connecting said chains, the link and the chains being so arrangedthat the upward or downward movement of the car in approaching a floorwill cause the roller to be rotated in one direction to raise the apron,and the movement of the car in leaving the floor will cause the rollerto be rotated in the opposite direction to lower the apron.

2. A gate for the doorways of elevator wells comprising a roller, aflexible apron secured to the roller for closing the doorway when theelevator car is not in position to be entered, a sprocket wheelconnected with said roller, an endless chain passing over said sprocketwheel for rotating the roller to raise or lower the apron, an idlesprocket wheel over which said chain passes, a second endless chainarranged adjacent the first mentioned chain, means for supporting andguiding the second chain in a substantially vertical plane, a memberconnecting said chains and so arranged with relation to the chains thatthe motion of the second chain will be transmitted to the first chain, adevice on the second chain adapted to be engaged by a member on theelevator car, and means for actuating said device to disengage it fromthe member on the elevator car when the apron has been lowered to apredetermined extent. 8. A gate for the doorways of elevator wellscomprising a roller, a flexible apron secured to the roller for closingthe doorway when the elevator car is not in position to be entered, asprocket wheel connected with said roller, an endless chain passing oversaid sprocket wheel for rotating the roller to raise or lower the apron,an idle wheel over which said chain passes, a second endless chainarranged adjacent the first mentioned chain adapted to be operated bythe movement of the elevator car, means for supporting and guiding thesecond chain in a substantially vertical plane, a member connecting saidchains to transmit the motion of the second chain to the first chain,said member being so arranged that when the apron is raised to itshighest point the connection between said member and the second chainwill be at the highest point in the second chain. a

4. A gate for the doorways of elevator wells comprising a roller, aflexible apron secured to the roller for closing the doorway when theelevator car is not in position to be entered, a sprocket wheelconnected with said roller, an endless chain passing over said sprocketwheel for rotating the roller to raise or lower the apron, an idle wheelover which said chain passes, a second endless chain arranged adjacentthe first mentioned chain adapted to be operated by the movement of theelevator car, a pair of oppositely arranged disks separated by anunobstructed space and adapted to support and guide the second chain, apair of opposed projecting studs upon the ends of which the disks areseverally mounted to turn, a bar pivoted at one end to the second chainand secured at the opposite end to the first chain and adapted to passfreely between the disks when the portion of the second chain to whichthe bar is pivoted passes over the disks.

LUDWVIG CHRISTIANSEN.

